Embassies Lebanon

A bomb exploded early Friday outside the Turkish Embassy in Lebanon, causing damage but no injuries, security sources said. They said the nighttime blast shattered windows in the building and set ablaze two cars parked opposite the embassy, located in the Baabda area in the hills above East Beirut. The explosion brought to 13 the number of attacks in Lebanon on embassies, banks or establishments of countries associated with the U.S.-led coalition at war with Iraq.

A bomb exploded early Friday outside the Turkish Embassy in Lebanon, causing damage but no injuries, security sources said. They said the nighttime blast shattered windows in the building and set ablaze two cars parked opposite the embassy, located in the Baabda area in the hills above East Beirut. The explosion brought to 13 the number of attacks in Lebanon on embassies, banks or establishments of countries associated with the U.S.-led coalition at war with Iraq.

The family and friends of Lebanon captive Terry Anderson celebrated his 42nd birthday today at a "Mass of Hope" where a journalistic colleague, Tom Brokaw, said, "As long as he is a hostage, we are not free." Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press, has spent five birthdays in captivity since gunmen seized him on a Beirut street on March 16, 1985.

Jordanian and Lebanese security authorities helped derail terrorist plots over the weekend against U.S., British, Jordanian and other embassies in Lebanon, government officials here said Tuesday. The officials declined to say who was behind the attempts but suggested that it was a group linked to Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States.

In an apparent attempt to influence an Arab summit meeting in Jordan, the Abu Nidal Palestinian terrorist group announced in Beirut on Sunday that it has seized a French-registered yacht in the Mediterranean and is holding as hostages its eight passengers, six of whom they claimed are Israelis. The other two are Hebrew-speaking children not further identified by the group.

In a diplomatic offensive reminiscent of the 1991 Gulf War, the United States declared Wednesday that it is launching a vigorous campaign to forge an international coalition to fight terrorism. The immediate goal is to bring to justice the extremists responsible for the worst terrorist attack in history, said Secretary of State Colin L. Powell. The long-term objective is to end the terrorist "scourge" altogether, he said.

Terrorism as a tactic of warfare became a serious problem in the 1960s, when Latin American leftists and then Palestinian extremists seized hostages and hijacked planes to squeeze concessions from local governments. In the years since, terrorist acts have grown ever more lethal. Their goals have grown international in scope, and terrorism has become the leading threat to U.S. national security.

This diminutive nation with an offbeat sense of humor and a strong self-image of cultural tolerance is not accustomed to having its flag burned, embassies stormed and coat of arms pelted with eggs. But Denmark has become a target for the Muslim world's outrage at cartoons lampooning the prophet Muhammad.